Calorie counter



Feb. 22, 1955 c. G. HALLOWELL CALORIE COUNTER Filed Sept. 2, 1955 IN V EN TOR. CHARLES G. HALLOWELL 1 AT ORNEYS United States Patent CALORIE COUNTER Charles G. Hallowell, West Hartford, Conn., assignor to John A. Blessis, Simsbury, Conn.

Application September 2, 1953, Serial No. 378,014

3 Claims. (Cl. 235-83) The present invention relates to a calorie counter, for recording and totalizing calorie intake during the several meals of the day.

The principal object of this invention is to provide a simple, easy to operate, pocket-size counter of the character described, so constructed and arranged as to indicate at a glance both a record of calorie consumption at each individual meal and a running record of the total calorie consumption during the day.

Other objects will be in part obvious and in part pointed out more in detail hereinafter.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, comobination of elements and arrangement of parts which will be exemplified in the construction hereafter set forth and the scope of the applicationof which will be indicated in the appended claims.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a calorie counter constructed in accordance with the present invention; and

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the counter shown in Figure 1 taken on the line 2-2 thereof.

Referring to the drawing, a calorie counter constructed in accordance with the present invention includes a relatively stiff base card or support 2 to which is secured an upstanding pivot 4, which may be a rivet or the like. A circular dial 6 is mounted at its center on the pivot 4 for rotation relative to the support 2. On the periphery of the circular dial 6 is provided a total calorie intake scale 8 which progresses from zero to, say, four or five thousand calories, in one hundred calorie steps in a counterclockwise direction about the periphery of the dial. On the support 2 an index mark 10 is provided adjacent the periphery of the dial 6, against which the total calorie intake scale 8 may be read. The dial 6 is also provided with a circle of spaced individual perforations 12 disposed on a circular locus concentric with the pivot Overlying dial 6 is an index card which is preferably of circular shape and supported at its center on pivot 4. The index card 14 is secured from rotation relative to support 2 by radially extending fingers 16 which may be fastened to the support 2 as by rivets 18, insertion in slots therein, or the like, outside of the periphery of dial 6. In the index card 14 is provided a plurality of arcuate slots 20, shown in the drawing as four in number, spaced along a circular locus concentric with pivot 4 and so positioned as to be in alignment or coincidence with the circle of perforations 12 in dial 6, so as to thereby expose portions of the circle of perforations 12. In accordance with the invention there is provided in the index card 14 a slot 20 corresponding to each meal of the day, successive slots 20 corresponding to breakfast, lunch, and so forth. Adjacent the edge of each slot 20 is an individual calorie intake scale 22 marked off from zero to, say, one thousand calories, in one hundred calorie steps. On each individual scale 22 is recorded the incremental calorie intake of the meal to which the adjacent slot 20 corresponds.

Co-operating with arcuate slots 20 is a like number of elongated pointers 24 which are mounted at one end for rotation about pivot 4. Each pointer 24 is of sufficient length so that its outer end 26 overlies the arcuate slot 20 with which it co-operates. In the outer end of each pointer 24 is a perforation 28 which is so positioned on the pointer 24 as to be in alignment or registry with the locus on which are disposed the perforations 12 in dial 6. In this way the dial 6 and any one pointer 24 may be rotated together about the axis of pivot 4 by insertion of a common actuating member such as the point of a pencil through the perforation 28 in pointer 24 into a registering perforation 12 in the dial 6. To prevent inadvertent rotation of one pointer 24 by frictional contact with its neighbor, the pointers may be separated by spacer disks, not shown, carried on pivot 4 and secured against rotation to index card 14.

In operation of the device, the incremental calorie intake for any given meal is recorded on the scale 22 adjacent the slot 20 corresponding to that meal by movement of the pointer 24 for that slot 20 along the slot until the pointer indicates on the scale 22 the calories consumed. As pointer 24 is so moved, insertion of the pointer actuating member through the perforation 28 in the pointer and into the most nearly registering perforation 12 in the circle of perforations in the dial 6 permits the simultaneous movement of the dial 6 with the pointer 24. Thus as pointer 24 is moved along scale 22 adjacent the slot 20, to show the incremental calorie consumption for a given meal, dial 6 is also moved relative to the index mark 10 on support 2 to record the total calorie consumption or increase therein.

The individual pointers 24 are not reset at zero on scales 22 adjacent the slots 20 corresponding to the several meals until the end of the day. Thus there is preserved on the counter, not only a record readable at a glance of the calorie consumption at each individual meal, but also a running record of the total calorie consumption during the day.

Thus there has been shown and described a counter for tallying calorie consumption which is convenient and easy to use, inexpensive and of small size, and so designed as to provide an indication at a glance of calorie consumption at each of the previous meals of the day as well as a running record of total calorie consumption during the day.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the language used in the following claims is intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetweeu.

I claim:

1. In a calorie counter, a support having an index card fixed in spaced relation thereto and an index mark, angularly spaced arcuate concentric slots in said index card having incremental calorie intake scales disposed clockwise along their edges, a circular dial mounted between said support and index card for rotation about an axis concentric with said slots, a total calorie intake scale disposed counterclockwise on the periphery of said dial, a circle of spaced perforations on said dial aligned with said slots, and a pointer for each of said slots rotatably mounted on said support concentric with said dial, each of said pointers having a perforation registering with said circle of perforations, whereby responsive to the insertion of an actuating member in the perforation of one of said pointers and a registering perforation in said dial the pointer may be rotated to record incremental calorie intake at a particular meal and the dial may be simultaneously rotated to preserve a running record of total calorie intake.

2. In a calorie tally counter, a support having a circular dial rotatably mounted thereon and an index mark adjacent the periphery of the dial, a total calorie intake scale along the periphery of said dial, a circle of perforations in said dial concentric therewith, an index card overlying said dial and fixed to said support, angularly spaced slots in said index card aligned with spaced portions of said circle of perforations, an incremental calorie intake scale adjacent the edge of each of said slots, and a pointer for each of said slots rotatably mounted on said index card concentric with said dial and having a perforation at its free end aligned with said circle of perforations, whereby responsive to the insertion of a common actuating member in the perforation of a pointer and a perforation in said dial the pointer and dial may be rotated together to record on a scale adjacent a slot calorie consumption at an individual meal and to record the increase in total calorie consumption on the total scale adjacent the index mark.

3. In a calorie counter, a support having a pivot, a circular dial rotatably mounted at its center on the pivot, a total calorie intake scale peripherally disposed counterclockwise on the dial, an index mark on the support adjacent the periphery of the dial, a circle of perforations in said dial concentric with said pivot, an index card mounted at its center on said pivot and overlying said dial, said index card having projecting fingers secured to said support to prevent rotation of said index card, an arcuate slot in said index card for each daily meal, said slots being angularly spaced on a locus concentric with said pivot and coincident with said circle of perforations, a calorie intake scale disposed clockwise along the edge of each of said slots, and an elongate pointer for each slot rotatably mounted at one end on said pivot and having a perforation in its other end adapted to register with one of the perforations in said dial, whereby said dial and the pointer of a slot corresponding to a particular meal may be rotated together responsive to the insertion of a common actuating member in registered perforations to record on the scale ad- 10 jacent the slot the incremental calorie intake for the meal and to record on said total scale the increase in total calorie consumption of the day.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 150,640 Warren May 5, 1874 2,150,442 Herzog Mar. 14, 1939 2,586,058 Knopke Feb. 19, 1952 Leiser May 13, 1952 

